Dr. Law & Dr. Mountcastle

Practice

NEWSLETTER

WINTER 2012

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WELCOME
We are delighted to welcome to the Practice Dr Nathan, who joined us on 8th November.She operates a Thursday morning Surgery from
7.30am – 1.30pm.
Dr Karpagam Kamalanathan
(known as Dr Nathan), qualified as a Medical Doctor in 1989 from St John’s Medical School, Bangalore, India and worked there for a few years before moving to Great Britain in 1994.She worked as a hospital doctor in mostly Acute Medicine and Neuro-Rehabilitation, all over England and Wales and qualified as a GP in 2004 from Nottingham Deanery working mostly in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Her interests are Mental Health, Dermatology, Minor Surgery, Infectious Diseases and Neurology. Dr Nathan lives in Nottingham with her partner.
FLU CLINIC
We have been busy with our flu clinics. If you have not yet had your Flu Vaccine and are eligible just phone and make an appointment with the Nurse or mention it to the Dr or Nurse during your appointment.
WINTER WARMERS
DRESS WARMLY
  • Wear several layers of thin clothing both inside and outdoors. This traps air between the layers to keep you warm.
  • Clothing made from wool, polyester or fleecy synthetic fibres are usually warmer.
  • Wear thermal underwear, and thick tights or long socks, with warm slippers when indoors.
  • When sitting down, wear a shawl around your shoulders, and/or a blanket over your knees.
  • When going out, remember to put on a warm coat with scarf, gloves and especially a hat, as a lot of heat can be lost through your head.
KEEP PHYSICALLY ACTIVE
Try not to stay sitting down for long periods. Get up and move around if possible, move your arms and legs, and wiggle your fingers and toes frequently.
KEEP YOUR HOUSE WARM
  • The recommended room temperature is 21 degrees Celsius, but vulnerable people often need a higher temperature to feel comfortable. Keep a thermometer handy to check.
  • If you are finding it too expensive to heat the whole house, keep only the living room and bedroom warm, closing doors to rooms not in use.
  • Try to keep your bedroom heated overnight, or warm the bedroom before going to bed.
  • If you can only manage to heat one room, have your bed moved into the living room rather than sleeping in the armchair.

The Surgery
The staff they are friendly
The surgery quite new
The Doctors will help you
Just give them a clue
Your health is important
And that is a fact
So if our lines are busy
Please call us back
The Doctor
The doctor she’s smiling
She never wears a frown
Even through the rough days
That really wear her down
She sees all her patients
With tact and deplore
Were thankful we’ve got her
We couldn’t ask for more
These little poems were given to us by one of our patients.
/ NEW BUILD UPDATE!
Following meetings with our Architect, we are very excited to share with you, the proposed design of our new Surgery!
Please see our notice board in the waiting area for the full plans.
We were awarded this amazing opportunity to relocate to new state-of-the-art premised earlier this year. Due to the dedication and hard work of everyone at Drs Law & Mountcastle, the Practice has flourished and grown over the last 2 years. This new facility will enable us to work in the most patient centered way. We have always strived to make patient experience excellent and this will enable us to improve and enhance our services further.
Our new Surgery will be built on the old St. John Street Surgery site.
Only 1 street away <100 meters’ from here.
Closer to the centre of town.
Our new building is being designed and built with maximum input from us to provide a brand new, purpose built surgery for our patients. The Surgery will be built and ready to move into in approximately 18 months time.
The project is now gathering pace.
As always our patients are at the forefront of everything we plan. Thank you for all your suggestions to date. We are still keen to have and would welcome further suggestions. Please feel free to ask any of our staff any questions. We are all very excited and keen to talk about it!
NEW NAME!
We obviously need a new name for our Practice and would appreciate and welcome any suggestions/ideas you may have. Please feel free to give as many suggestions as you wish. Please pop them in our suggestion box, which is located on the central pillar in the waiting area.
WE ALWAYS WELCOME NEW PATIENTS AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO UP UNTIL, DURING AND AFTER THE MOVE.

ANTIBIOTICS
The number of infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria is growing rapidly, inappropriate use of antibiotics is the main driver of antibiotic resistance.
  • Antibiotics are important medicines and should only be taken when prescribed by a health professional.
  • When antibiotics are prescribed by a health professional it is important that you always take it as directed, a lower dose or twice instead of three times daily may not be effective and encourages resistance to develop.
  • Antibiotics can upset the natural balance of bacteria in your body. This allows other more harmful bacteria to increase. This may result in diarrhoea and thrush.
  • Antibiotic resistant bacteria don’t just infect you, they can spread to other people in close contact with you.



Do you want to improve health and health services in your local community?
Do you want to have a say and get involved in the way your health service is run?
If the answer is yes, then please give your details to our Receptionist and someone will contact you with details of our next PPG meeting, where you can come along and meet some of our established members.
NHS HEALTH CHECKS
Everyone is at risk of developing heart disease, kidney problems, diabetes or stroke, which is why we are inviting patients aged between 40 and 74 to come to the surgery and have a free NHS Health Check.
It only takes 15 minutes and can reduce your risk of serious illness.
Why do I need an NHS Health Check?
We know that your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease increases with age. There are also certain things that will put you at even greater risk.
These are:
  • Being overweight
  • Lack of exercise
  • Smoking
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol
Both men and women can develop these conditions, and having one could increase your risk of developing another in the future.
What happens at the check?
One of our Nurses will assess your risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and stroke.
  • The check will take 15-20 minutes
  • You will be asked some simple questions regarding your family history and any medication you are currently taking
  • We will record your height, weight, age, sex and ethnicity
  • We will take your blood pressure
  • We will do a simple blood test to check your cholesterol level and any other appropriate tests for example kidney function.
What happens after the check?
You will be given a second appointment to discuss how we can support you to reduce your risk and stay healthy.
  • You will be taken through your results and told what they mean.
  • You will be given personalized advice on how to lower your risk and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
  • Treatment or medication may be prescribed to help you maintain your health.
To find out more call NHS Health Check
0845 850 9850 or visit
HEALTHY BREAKFAST
Drs Law & Mountcastle have continued to do the Healthy Breakfast Show on Mansfield 103.2FM every Thursday morning.Please have a listen in as the show has evolved and is really good fun and quite tongue in cheek at times, although does address serious issues. During the month of November (Movember for men’s health) Dr Law talked the men of Mansfield, through a testicular examination, live on air!!!
TWELVE WAYS TO A HEALTHY CHRISTMAS
1)Get your FLU JAB if you are in the relevant at risk group.
2)Make sure you have enough PRESCRIPTIONSand medications to last over the holidays.
3)Know how to contact your OUT OF HOURS provider if you need urgent medical help.
4)STRESS, Anxiety and depression are common during the festive season, if nothing else reassure yourself that these feelings are normal, don’t expect miracles. If you and certain family members bicker all year long you can be sure there will be tension at Christmas gatherings, sometimes its better to accept this and move on.
5)MODERATION, Try to be moderate, it may be the season to be jolly but too much food and alcohol is harmful, drink driving is a real danger and remember illegal, if you can’t or don’t want to step off the social merry-go -round at Christmas at least try and eat and drink in moderation.
6)SLEEP, Make sure you get enough sleep and plan for some early nights as this helps boost the immune system.
7)KEEP MOVING, Keep up your regular exercise routine which can give you fitness and stamina to make it through the demands of the festive season as well as once again boost your immune system.
8)BEWARE OF SNACKS!At Christmas times many of the kilos piled on are due to snacks that lie around the house. Go easy on the chocolates and nuts because they are full of calories and are unnecessary when you are also enjoying large meals, as a substitute, have bowls of fruit available and help fill kid’s stockings with an apple or an orange too.
9)BOOZE SENSIBLY, When eventually you have a drink remember to space alcoholic beverages with soft ones allowing your liver a chance to fight back and don’t forget that it is harder for your liver to metabolize alcohol when your sugar intake has been high it prioritizes the absorption of sugar over alcohol. So if you have been on chocolates all day any alcohol will remain in your system for longer.
10)BE NEIGHBOURLY, This is the season of good will and particularly if you have elderly neighbours, go around have a check on them, make sure they have got their heating and everything that they need particularly if the weather is bad.
11)KEEP WARM.
12)COMMON SENSE, Go on, use it, especially at Christmas time.

NEW YEAR

We just wanted to say thank you to our loyal patients and friends for another wonderful year together.

May the New Year bring you everything you hoped for.

Useful numbers
Surgery – 664877
Fax – 664878
KingsMillHospital – 622515
NHS – 0845 46 47